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Beric Yew
Beric Yew is the head of House Yew, a landed knight and leader of the Rangers of the South. He predominantly operates out of The Westerlands and The Reach. Ser Beric is an accomplished marksman and wielder of the ancestral Yew longbow of Arrogance, made from the bones of the dragon Drogon. History Early Childhood Born to the small house of Yew on the borders of the Reach in the Westerlands, from a young age it seemed that Beric was doomed to a life of mediocrity, likely to become little more than the equivalent of a wandering hedge knight. For many years prior to the birth of Beric, the Yew house had been plagued by a lack of decent marksmen in a house whose ancestral weapon was a dragonbone longbow. Instead of the noble archers the Yew name had once been known for, Beric’s father and his fathers before him were drunks, often spending most of their time travelling to tournaments and focusing more upon the joust than any other knightly duties. Beric’s mother, despite not being a Yew through birth - held far more to the tradition of his family than his father, and it was through her tutelage at a young age that Beric first took to the skill of Archery rather than following in his father’s footsteps. However, whilst Beric was still young, only eleven years of age - his mother passed away from illness, and Beric was taken off by his father to serve as a squire while their ancestral home was tended to by his father’s Castellan. Squirehood Dragged across the Southern Kingdoms by his father to tournament after tournament, Beric gradually grew to resent his father. While he learned swordsmanship, and had the opportunity to train his skill at archery whenever they came to tournaments, his father discouraged Beric’s use of the bow, referring to it as; ‘an archaic waste of a knight’s time.’ The friction this caused between Beric and his father only encouraged the young squire however, who chose to ignore his father’s preferred joust entirely, in favour of the sword duel and archery events at the tournaments they attended. As Beric grew older, his conflict between himself and his father gradually reached a boiling point - one which occurred during yet another tournament, and one in which Beric’s own skill in Archery far outshone his father’s ability in the Joust. Drunk, his father let forth an abusive tirade towards his son at a feast, embarrassing himself and Beric by doing so. Being in the presence of Lord Crakehall, the house to which the Yew’s owed fealty, only worsened this as the lord sought to punish Beric’s father for his actions. Though he retained his knighthood, Beric’s father was stripped of almost everything else, and sent to the wall to become a sworn brother of the Night’s Watch by Lord Crakehall, and in his place Beric was named the head of his house, granted the lands, title and inheritance that had belonged to his father. The Young Knight For a time, Beric returned to Hard Oak to rest, and to take some time to settle into his new duties as the head of his house. During this time, Beric took ownership of his families ancestral longbow, Arrogance, and continued to train his skills as a bowman in the forests around his home. Beric took to hunting as a sport, and found it ample for training his skills with Arrogance, hunting bigger and bigger game until he had become particularly skilled in the tracking of both men and beasts. The Second War of Reclamation By the outbreak of the Second War of Reclamation, Beric’s abilities had been noted, and for the first time in generations House Yew was recognised by the Lannister armies they fought alongside. Beric spent much of the war as a scout, travelling far behind enemy lines to undertake Guerrilla raids against supply lines and troop trains. Spending a great deal of time behind enemy lines, Beric had to learn to forage and survive off the land, developing his skills until the deep woods became something of a second home to him. The largest battle in which Beric took a direct part in was the battle which led to the capture of Lord Aubrey Lannister. In the rout, Beric was forced into close quarters with a northern knight, and while granting his men time to escape, was injured before managing to defeat his foe and retreat himself. Beric was treated behind the Western lines after the battle by a young Rosamund Hill, bastard daughter of House Hawthorne, a woman whom he recognised from some of the tournaments he had attended in the Westerlands years prior. Questioning the woman on her presence as a medic despite her noble standing, Beric came to admire the young woman for her willingness to put aside her position to help others. For the rest of the war, Beric spent most of his time behind enemy lines as a scout, and witnessed numerous acts by both the Northerners and Southerners against smallfolk - ransacking supplies, rape and even murder were all relatively common occurrences in the war - and it struck a chord with the man who had made a knightly vow to protect the innocent at whatever cost. A Ranger in the Wilds After the war, Beric chose to leave Hard Oak once more, gathering together a number of knights and soldiers he had fought alongside during the war, along with a number of recruited commoners to form The Rangers of the South, a group dedicated to the protection of smallfolk regardless of what lords they might owe fealty to, and regardless of whom might threaten them. In the time since establishing this group, Beric has avoided attending tournaments, and receded from the public life of a knight, honestly considered by some to perhaps be more of an outlaw these days. The Stormlander Rebellion Beric Yew remained loyal to King Orys Baratheon when the Lord of Storm's End, Theodan Baratheon, incited rebellion against the Iron Throne. Joining with the Lannister army, Beric rode to the Stormlands with the Rangers of the South to take part on the side of the Loyalists. Beric Yew rose to a degree of prominence after the Battle of Haystack Hall, during which the Knight of Hard Oak managed to wound the Rebel's flank commander, Lord Raymont Penrose, forcing him from the field and ensuring that he could not wipe out the loyalists' flank. Regardless of the loyalists defeat at Haystack Hall, word spread through the camp of Yew's efforts in the battle. Beric remained with the Loyalists for the siege of the Parchments, but did not continue with the Loyalist army to Storm's End. Beric, received news of a bandit king known as the Blackstar, whom Beric had been tracking before his call to war, after the bandit raided a number of house Yew's holdings. Beric returned to Hard Oak, with the intention of finding and defeating the Outlaw King. The Bowman and the Blackstar WIPCategory:Character Category:The Westerlands